Peppermint laughed and rolled her eyes. “Girl, I’m sure every single guy here is checking you out right now. Have you looked in the mirror? You're gorgeous. And that royal blue sweater you’re wearing really makes your eyes pop.”
I didn’t want to worry Peppermint, but this definitely didn’t feel like the gaze of an admirer. I would just have to be more alert tonight. If the feeling returned, I would let Pep know. For now, I didn’t want anything to ruin our night.
“You must be mistaken.” I bumped her shoulder with mine. “Have you looked in the mirror? You’re sexy as hell in those skinny jeans.”
Peppermint over exaggerated the sway to her hips as she continued toward the rental counter. Glancing over her shoulder at me she said, “Then we better not waste all of this hotness tonight.”
2
Kari
When we reached the counter I set the skates down and caught the attendant’s attention, waving him over. Colorful tattoos lined both of his arms, his dark hair peeking out from under his reversed baseball hat.
Trying not to stare at the attendant proved difficult. He seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place where I would have met him before. Hopefully, it wasn’t at Vee. The less people that witnessed our drunken asses, the better.
Clearing my throat I said, “Hi. I’m not sure if these skates were supposed to be rented out.” I pointed to the mark along the side of the skate. “Does this green mark mean something?”
He studied the skate, then shook his head. “Nah. That’s always been there.” He took the skates and went to put them away.
“Oh ... Okay. Thank you.” That was weird. This was a magical rink, why wouldn’t they spell them to look like new?
I turned to Peppermint and shrugged, then linked her arm with mine. It proved to be a little awkward, since she was about six inches shorter than me. “Let’s go get those drinks and then we can check out some of those cute shops later.”
Arm in arm we headed across the plaza to Hot Cider’s Snack Bar. Cider was supposed to have some amazing book themed drinks and I couldn’t wait to try them.
We lucked out and there was an empty table available outside. Taking our seats we had a perfect view of the ice rink. I recognized one of the skaters. Her name was Ember and I had met her at Willow’s shop when she was looking to put up a poster for her skating school. I watched her perform what appeared to be a choreographed dance across the ice.
She was breathtaking and I had a hard time taking my eyes off of her. Her movements were graceful and she landed each of her jumps perfectly. I wondered if she skated competitively. If not, her talent was being completely wasted.
I shifted my attention back to the menu card on the table and skimmed the list of drinks. They all looked delicious. “So what will it be, Pep?”
“I think I’ll try the signature cider.”
“Hmm.” I tapped my finger against the menu. “I think I’ll start with that one too and then we can work our way down the list.”
Peppermint groaned. “I’m not sure if we should make it all the way to the bottom. It took days for my stomach to recover from Vee’s. I think being a demigod gives you an advantage over me.”
She had a point. I not only had the power to manipulate the weather, but I also had strength, speed, and the ability to heal and metabolize alcohol faster. Though being a shifter, Peppermint was able to metabolize it faster too. I think it had more to do with the fact she was smaller than me and couldn’t drink as much.
The server came over and took our drink order. We added in a few appetizers, needing something to absorb the alcohol and I was also starving. Ice skating was a major workout. I could already feel the burn in my thighs and calves from not having skated in so long.
I looked over my shoulder and peered through the glass window into Hot Cider’s, where there were a half dozen tables and chairs already beginning to fill with customers. I smirked at Peppermint. “Luckily there isn’t a bar here to get us into trouble tonight.”
Peppermint’s face flushed crimson and she giggled. “That poor guy! You didn’t help the situation by saying it was lucky I was actually wearing underwear.”
A snort slipped out and I slapped my hand over my mouth at the memory of what happened that night when we went to Vee. We celebrated my arrival into town and somehow had ended up dancing on the bar. I’m sure it was all my idea. The third song had started and Peppermint was just getting into her groove when she slipped on a spilled drink. As she was toppling off the bar, the bouncer Reggie had caught her with lightning speed, only to end up with a face full of her vag.
I may have said ‘It’s a good thing you’re wearing underwear or he would have a mouthful of your bush.’
Okay. I admit it. I did say it. Or rather slurred it out loud. How she’d managed to fall straddling his face is still a mystery.
I was barely able to contain my laughter, until the sexy bearded guy with tatts standing next to them quipped, ‘Hey, that’s my seat.’ That hot tamale ended up being Reggie’s boyfriend. I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants.
“The best part.” I managed to choke out as tears streamed down my face. “Was when you panicked and tried to climb off him. Then ended up knocking him to the floor still straddling his face.”
Peppermint dropped her head into her hands and groaned. “I didn’t want his boyfriend to think I was hitting on him.”
I patted Peppermint’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t worry. The boyfriend was having fun at Reggie’s expense. The poor guy is probably scarred for life. It was obvious to everyone that you were definitely not hitting on him.”
Our drinks arrived along with a platter of nachos and some steaming hot fries. Grabbing a plate, I loaded it and dug in.
“So did anything interesting happen while you were skating,” Peppermint asked in between bites. “Like the girl who gave you the ticket said?”
I swallowed the food in my mouth and took a sip of my drink to wash it down. Damn that drink was tasty. I could kiss whoever had told me to try Hot Cider’s. “If you call a guy shifting into a block of ice interesting, then yeah.”
Peppermint’s jaw dropped, her brown eyes wide with confusion. The fry covered in ketchup she was about to eat was frozen halfway to her mouth. “Wait, what? You can’t be serious.”
“Yep. If I hadn’t been checking out his ass at the time I would have slammed right into him.” I wished he was still here so I could show her what an ice shifter looked like. If I had been smart I should have captured the whole thing on video. You couldn’t appreciate an ice shifter without seeing it firsthand.
“Did he have arms and legs?” Peppermint asked. “Was he like an ice sculpture? Cause that would be cool.”
“Nope. Just one big giant ice cube.” I took another sip of my drink as I watched the people walking by. A woman with short black hair and a streak of white running through it was about to pass our table. The silver dragon necklace she wore caught my attention. “Excuse me,” I called out to her.
I caught Peppermint glancing at me with a curious expression before she popped the french fry in her mouth. She probably thought I was asking a random person to have drinks with us.